Bigstock vs Shutterstock
Bigstock
bigstockphoto.com
Shutterstock
shutterstock.comSide by side
| Figure | Bigstock | Shutterstock |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $53.25/mo | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 13 | 9 |
| Spec score · Stock Photo Websites | 8.7 (#10) | 8.4 (#13) |
| Spec score · Stock Illustration Websites | 8.8 (#6) | 7.7 (#20) |
| API access | Yes | Yes |
| Editorial assets | Yes | Yes |
| Founded | 2004 | 2003 |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Headquarters | New York, NY, USA | New York, NY |
| Illustration assets | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | A Bigstock image page offers saving a preview to Google Drive. | The Shutterstock API provides library search and licensing within third-party applications and is integrated with Google, Facebook, IBM, and Wix, among others. |
| Monthly downloads | 50 | 10 |
| Support | The site lists support hours as 9am–5pm EST, Monday through Friday, and offers contact and help pages. | Shutterstock offers a 24/7 multilingual AI support agent that can connect customers to a live agent during live support hours. |
| Vector assets | Yes | Yes |
Plans
Bigstock
- 5 images/day$79 a month
- 10 images/day$99 a month
- 50 images/month$79 a month
- 10 image credits$35, paid once
- 25 image credits$49, paid once
- 5 Images/Day — 1 month$79 a month
- 10 Images/Day — 1 month$99 a month
- 100 image credits$169, paid once
- 5 Images/Day — 3 months$199, paid once
- 10 Images/Day — 3 months$269, paid once
Shutterstock
- Image downloadsPriced on request
- Image downloadsPrice not published
- Image packsPrice not published
- Image packsPriced on request
- Image pack$29, paid once
- Image downloads (10 per month)$300 a year
- Unlimited Images$348 a year
- Unlimited Plus$828 a year
- Teams and EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Bigstock
Bigstock is a stock-image marketplace offering more than 50 million royalty-free photos and illustrations, along with HD stock video clips. Image downloads come as JPGs, while vector illustrations are available in AI or EPS formats. Subscriptions include small, medium, large, and extra-large JPG sizes, plus vectors. Bigstock provides API access and supports web use. Subscription allowances vary by plan: for example, the 50 images/month plan is $79 a month, while the 5 images/day plan is also $79 a month. Unused subscription downloads do not roll over. Standard licenses do not expire, but each image has an aggregate print limit of 250,000 copies. Use on merchandise for sale or above that limit requires an extended license, priced at $99.00 or 50 credits. New users may be offered a seven-day video trial of up to 35 clips; trial enrollment automatically bills a subscription afterward unless canceled.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is a paid creative platform for finding and licensing photos, vectors, illustrations, video, 3D models, music, and sound effects. It is available on the web and through an API, which can bring library search and licensing into third-party applications. The company says its library contains more than 450 million images and grows by 200,000 images a day. Image tools include Expand Image, Variations, Magic Brush, and Background Remover; the remover works only on images up to 7000×5000 pixels and does not remove vector background layers. Its AI image generator returns four results per prompt, downloadable under a Standard or Enhanced license. Both licenses allow perpetual use of downloaded content; Enhanced adds permissions for merchandise, templates, and unlimited physical print runs. Unlimited plans include models from Runway, Google, OpenAI, and others, but cap downloads at 100 assets daily. Monthly subscription downloads do not roll over. The API license bars raw asset-file access or downloads and requires assets delivered in an app to be limited to projects created there. The listed 10-image subscription is $25 a year, billed yearly at $300; a one-time image pack is 29.00 USD.